Enjoy an evening of community, music, and impact in support of impoverished and vulnerable communities in northern Peru.

When: Thursday, March 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM EST

Where: Innovation Works, 201 King Street, London, ON

There will be live music by Los Freakies, refreshments, a cash bar and an amazing silent auction. Here are just of few of the prizes that are waiting for your bids:

• A 1-night stay at London’s Hard Rock Hotel plus 4 two-day passes to either The Factory or the London Children’s Museum. Perfect for out-of-town guests or your own staycation!
• Give a boost to your health and happiness with a 3-month ultimate membership to Goodlife Fitness.
• Looking for a laugh? We’ve got two tickets to Yuk Yuk’s.
• Or enjoy some good theatre (and a good laugh) with tickets to The Importance of Being Ernest at the Grand.
• Here’s a very special family (or friends) treat: a Butter-Churning Picnic for 4 at the Beachville Museum.
• And so much more . . .

We will also share highlights and reflections from our November 2025 visit with our partners in Cajamarca, Chiclayo, and the Zaña Valley for a closer look at the communities and initiatives your support makes possible.

Proceeds from this FREE-ADMISSION event will help strengthen education, community health, and economic opportunities for families and vulnerable populations in Peru. Register HERE.

MANY THANKS TO OUR PLATINUM SPONSOR EAST LONDON ROTARY, OUR GOLD SPONSOR CAMBIA DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, AND OUR SILVER SPONSOR MICHAEL LOEBACH, BARRISTER, FOR MAKING THIS EVENING POSSIBLE. OUR GRATITUDE ALSO TO THE PAUL SEED FUND OF THE LONDON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR PROVIDING THE NIGHT’S MUSIC.

Join us for an evening of community, music, and impact as we come together to support Heart-Links’ partners and projects in Peru.

Enjoy live music by Los Freakies, browse our silent auction, and indulge in sweet treats (alfajoras!) and refreshments (wine, beer, non-alchoholic) while connecting with friends old and new.

During the evening, we will also share highlights and reflections from our November 2025 visit with our partner organizations in the Cajamarca, Chiclayo, and Zaña Valley, giving you a closer look at the communities and initiatives your support makes possible.

When: Thursday, March 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM EST

Where: Innovation Works, 201 King Street, London, ON

Proceeds from this FREE-ADMISSION event help strengthen education, community health, and economic opportunities for families and vulnerable populations in Peru. Register HERE.

DO YOU WANT TO HELP SHARE THE LOVE?

There are many ways to get involved.

• Join us on March 12. Register HERE.
• Donate a silent auction prize. If you have an item or service you’d like to donate, contact info@heart-links.org or phone 226-884-2845 to arrange delivery or pick-up.
• Own a business? Consider sponsoring our event. Contact info@heart-links.org or phone 226-884-2845 for more information.
• Invite a friend.
• SPREAD THE WORD!

Celebrate, connect, and help create a more just and compassionate world. Your support makes this work possible — thank you for sharing the love.

The book is called Voces y expresiones de la quebrada que quiero (Voices and Expressions of the Ravine That I Love), and it is as beautiful as it is urgent. Entirely written and illustrated by children from the communities of Quiritimayo and Pomabamba, this publication captures their reflections, observations, and hopes for the ravine that runs through their neighbourhoods; once a source of beauty and play, now deeply polluted.

Thanks to your support, the book and programs that led to this book, are made possible.

“The literacy was grounded in their own experience,” shared Gordon Price, Co-Chair of our Peru Projects Committee. “The children reflected on how they felt about the creek, did drawings, made their own personal books… Isabel [Gutiérrez, ACIES director] has combined those into a single publication. The book is amazing…it’s powerful, it’s full of the children’s reflections.”

Why the Ravine?

ACIES launched this project, Quiere la Quebrada (“Love the Ravine”), to help children build literacy skills, strengthen their environmental awareness, and reclaim their voice through storytelling. From the outset, the approach was immersive: children participated in guided expeditions to the ravine, took note of what they saw — piles of garbage, smoke, even dead animals — and asked the tough questions:

Why is this happening? How can we change it?

These observations became the seeds for their stories.

“La quebrada, antes clara y radiante, ahora con basura abundante. Su belleza se perdió, sin voz ni sonido que calma. Hoy, su silencio, es un vacío que hiela el alma.”
(The ravine, once clear and radiant, now full of garbage. Its beauty is lost, without voice or sound to soothe. Today, its silence is a void that chills the soul.)

— Voces y expresiones de la quebrada que quiero, ACIES, 2025

Through these stories the children developed critical thinking, creativity, and a sense of agency over the spaces they live in.

Real Change, Real Community

With your generosity, ACIES was able to deliver weekly literacy workshops to over 30 children and adolescents, offer access to a cultural and educational hub at the Quiritimayo Cultural Center, and publish 1,000 copies of this stunning bilingual book. Each family in the participating communities will receive a free copy.

But the impact didn’t stop there. As detailed in the final project report, your support also helped fund:

• Weaving workshops for women and youth, turning traditional skills into both therapy and income.
• A psychological support group, coordinated by a local woman and weaver, fostering emotional wellbeing and intergenerational dialogue.
• Teacher training and international exchange, connecting rural educators across Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.
• Community authorship, giving local youth like Esgard — once bedridden — the encouragement and tools to write, draw, and re-engage with the world. His mother said:

“A desk and a chair got my Esgard out of bed and smiling every day.”

“The projects that Isabel submits are incredible,” Gordon added. “The reports that she sends are so well drafted. Photographs that accompany them really tell a clear story.”

📚 You’re Invited: Celebrate This Story with Us

We’re excited to invite you, our community of supporters, to join ACIES for the virtual launch of Voces y expresiones de la quebrada que quiero.

📅 Saturday, July 5, 2025
🕘 10:00 a.m. Peru time – 11:00 a.m Ontario time
🌍 Hosted by ACIES — https://meet.google.com/bpj-opay-eht

Come hear directly from those involved in the project, meet the facilitators behind the work, and see how your donations are helping shape a generation of readers, writers, and environmental defenders.

When you give to Heart-Links, you give more than funding. You give the gift of voice. Of creativity. Of transformation.

Thank you and we hope to see you at the launch.

In Solidarity,

Dani

Join us on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. for:

• Reflections from our Board and Volunteers
• A warm welcome to our 2025 Board of Directors
• Highlights from our 2024 Impact Report

📍 Location: Innovation Works, 201 King Street, London, Ontario
🕠 Time: 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. ET

To let us know that you’re coming, please register here!

If you would like to join virtually, please register here!

We hope to see you there!

This special gathering at Innovation Works, 201 King St., London, Ontario will be an evening of music, inspiring stories, and community. Freddy Almarza will be performing live, setting the tone for a night filled with warmth and connection. We’re also thrilled to welcome special guests from Latidos in Peru, who will be connected online to share updates on the incredible work happening in their communities.

And of course, it wouldn’t be Share the Love without our silent auction—your chance to bid on exciting prizes while supporting meaningful projects in Peru.

Why Come?

• Great music, good company, and inspiring stories from the people making a difference.
• A closer look at the projects you’re helping to support.
• An exciting silent auction with prizes you won’t want to miss.

This event has become a tradition for Heart-Links—a chance to come together, celebrate community, and strengthen our connections across borders. Whether you’ve been part of it before or this is your first time, we promise a meaningful and enjoyable evening.

Event Details

Date: April 3, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Innovation Works, 201 King St., London, Ontario

We’d love to see you there. Bring a friend, make an evening of it, and help us Share the Love.

• Messages from our Board Chair, Treasurer and Projects Committee
• Introduction to our 2024 Board of Directors
• Presentation of our 2023 Impact Report
• A fond farewell to long-time staff Ruth Taylor

As part of the celebration, in-person guests can enter a draw for one of two door prizes.

And here’s another special treat: several of our partners will join us virtually from Peru!

When: Sunday, May 26, 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET
Where: Innovation Works, 201 King Street, London, Ontario

Register for IN-PERSON attendance here.

Can’t make it to the in-person event? Join us virturally by Zoom!

Register for ZOOM attendance here.

When: Sunday, May 26, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Where: Innovation Works, 201 King Street, London, Ontario AND by Zoom (link to come).

Learn about the impact your donations made in 2023. Help us celebrate another year of working together to create a more just world.

We have invited our partners to join the celebration, too. Virtually from Peru!

What can you expect at this fee-admission event?

• Messages from our Board Chair, Treasurer and Projects Committee
• Introduction to our 2024 Board of Directors
• Presentation of our 2023 Impact Report
• Good company, refreshments and a door prize!

We hope to see you there!

The Sustainable Development Goals are ambitious targets that countries around the world have pledged to meet by 2030. They envision a secure and peaceful world free of poverty, inequality and hunger, with full and productive employment, access to quality education and universal health coverage, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and an end to environmental degradation.

All of the projects Heart-Links funds advance one or more of the SDGs.

The five themes of IDW2024 are Gender Equality, Education, Health, Climate Action and Partnership. These are priority areas for Heart-Links, too.

There are plenty of ways to celebrate International Development Week and learn more about global solidarity and cooperation. To get you started, here’s a list of events you might be interested in from organizations across the province.

Or join us this Thursday at Innovation Works for Share the Love. This musical fiesta and fundraiser is a great way to support and learn more about the community-led initiatives Heart-Links funds in Peru. Register for free here!

International Development Week is an annual initiative held during the first full week in February. A uniquely Canadian tradition, IDW was initiated in 1991 by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in order to promote global peace. The Government of Canada, Global Affairs Canada (GAC), civil society organizations, schools, businesses, provinces, municipalities, volunteers and millions of interested Canadians participate in IDW each year.

#GoForTheGoals #IDW2024 #SolidarityMatters

= A FABULOUS WAY TO BRIGHTEN YOUR FEBRUARY

= SHARE THE LOVE 2024

Join us this February 8 for Share the Love IN PERSON!

This FREE ADMISSION musical fiesta and fundraiser features Peruvian and Latin American music by Freddy Almarza and Peruvian and Latin American desserts.

Our silent auction brings together fashionwear by Carmina Young! small batch Canadian-made horseradish by Dennis’ Horseradish! tickets to the London Knights! and so much more. We have handcrafted Peruvian treasures, too.

You’ll hear about our recent visit with our partners and the projects Heart-Links funds in Peru. Revenues from this evening will help keep those community-led projects going in 2024.

(Maybe you’re thinking about joining our trip to Peru this summer. Learn more at Share the Love!)

When: Thursday, February 8, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM 

Where: Innovation Works, 201 King Street, London, Ontario (register here for free)

Program:

• 7:00 pm Doors Open, Silent Auction Starts
• 7:10 pm  Welcome Message
• 7:20 pm Music by Freddy Almarza
• 7:40 pm Words and Images about Projects in Peru
• 8:00 pm Music by Freddy Almarza
• 8:20 pm Final Bidding
• 8:30 pm Silent Auction Closes

DO YOU WANT TO HELP SHARE THE LOVE?

• Join us on February 8 (register for free here).
• Make a donation to Heart-Links.
• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and share our posts.
• SPREAD THE WORD!

When: Thursday, February 8, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM

Where: Innovation Works, 201 King Street, London, Ontario

Join us to hear stories from our recent visit to Peru—the first in 4 years! Meet up with friends old and new. There’ll be a silent auction and food, too. Freddy has added some Peruvian tunes to his repetoire, so don’t miss out.

Proceeds from this FREE-ADMISSION event will go to supporting community-led projects in northern Peru in the areas of education, leadership, health & wellness, sustainable communities and Indigenous & cultural rights.

DO YOU WANT TO HELP SHARE THE LOVE?

There are many ways to get involved.

• Join us on February 8 and bring your friends (registration link to come).
• Donate a silent auction prize. If you have an item or service you’d like to donate, contact info@heart-links.org before January 25.
• Own a business? Consider sponsoring our event. Contact info@heart-links.org for more information.
• SPREAD THE WORD!